A hit and a miss
by Paige Terner
Summary: Another journey into the what-if past, where Castle and Beckett meet years before we meet them.


**Title: A hit and a miss  
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**Summary: I often think of ways Castle and Beckett could have met before we meet them. This is one of those ways.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own most of these characters. If you recognize a name, odds are it isn't mine. But seeing as this is a fanfic website, you probably knew that already.**

**Thanks again to Sunshiny-Kate, the best beta a writer could ask for!  
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><p><span>A hit and a miss<span>

One. Two. Three. The shots fired off in quick succession. Four. Five. Six. The holes they made were grouped so tightly that they almost blended into one. All in the head. Right where Richard Castle was aiming. He leaned forward slightly, squinting at his holey target. The shots to the head were not the first he'd fired. There was a gaping chest wound, both knees had been shot out, and the stomach was ripped open.

The young writer reached to his side and pushed the button that would bring the paper body back from the far end of the firing range. He removed his noise canceling earphones and safety goggles, then reached out and pulled the target from its clip so he could examine it even closer.

"Hmmm." He said out loud to himself. "I'm definitely letting Derek have a revolver."

"They don't usually let crazy people into the shooting gallery."

Castle jerked his head around and took a step back to see who the strange voice belonged to. His eyes grew wide when he got his answer. Standing by the back wall was a young woman hanging up her jacket on a hook. The view he was enjoying was put to shame when she turned and met his crystalline blue eyes with her mesmerizing green ones.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" She spoke again.

"Uh, no." He shook his head. "And what do you mean by crazy?"

"Well, you were just talking to yourself."

"You don't do that?"

"Not out loud."

"Oh." Castle turned the rest of the way around as he folded up his paper target. "Well I'm a mystery writer. We're allowed a higher level of insanity than most people."

Kate rolled her eyes. She knew who the blue-eyed gunman was. Though she couldn't believe her luck for ending up here while he was there, she hadn't come here to talk. Not even to her favorite author. The guys at the academy had been giving her a hard time and she needed to work out some frustration. So she put on her ear and eye protection and walked up to an empty stall. She hung up a target and sent it down the lane.

Before she could get a single shot off, she heard Castle speaking behind her. It was muffled, but she could tell what he was saying.

"So. What's your name?"

"Kate." She said over her shoulder. "You can call me Kate." She turned back to her target.

"I'm Rick Castle."

"Good for you."

With that, Kate emptied her magazine into the paper. She hit the silhouette in the head, heart, and groin.

"Guy troubles?"

Kate whipped around.

"What?"

"The way you hit that thing. In the, ya know...you must be mad at a man."

"I'm starting to be."

Castle raised an eyebrow. Then a grin spread across his face.

"You need to beat somebody."

"Excuse me?" Kate sighed out exasperatedly as she pulled her headphones off.

"In a competition. You and I should have a shooting contest."

"Why?"

"Nothing cheers someone up like the rush of victory."

"So, you're saying I'd win?" Kate asked with a smirk.

"No. But it's worth a shot."

"Wow. That was the worst attempt at humor I've ever heard. And you're a writer? How do you even afford to buy food?" Kate knew just how good he was, but she wasn't letting on.

"You wound me. Besides, I write about death and mayhem, not humor."

"Well, don't quit your day job."

"So, do you accept my challenge?"

"What would the prize be?" Kate asked, her voice a bit more flirty than she'd intended.

"Winner gets to choose where we eat dinner." Castle answered without hesitation.

"Who says we're eating dinner together?"

"I do."

Kate didn't know how to respond to his matter-of-fact answer. Surely she could out-shoot this scrawny writer. How good could he be?

"Okay then." She nodded as she agreed. "What are the terms?"

"We each get six shots with this revolver." Castle held up the gun as he spoke. "Whoever has the tightest grouping wins. Clean and simple. Do you agree to these terms and conditions?" He said the last part with mock seriousness that had Kate fighting back a laugh.

"Sounds fair enough. Who goes first?"

"Ladies first. I wouldn't have it any other way." He held the gun out to her as he bowed slightly.

Kate shook her head as she walked over to the stall Castle had been firing from. She began to load the cylinder with new ammunition as he was setting up a fresh target in another stall. Once they were both ready and had donned their safety gear again, she stepped up to the counter.

"Does it matter where we shoot?" She asked Castle.

"No. Just get all six as close to each other as you can." He replied.

She nodded and took aim at the head of the black ink body. Her six shots rang out quickly. She handed the gun to Castle so he could reload for his turn. He took a deep breath and let his shots fly almost as quickly as Kate had. Moments later the paper was moving towards them.

"Let's see what we have." Castle said as they leaned in to look.

Kate smiled as his face fell. She didn't mean too, but she couldn't help it. The printed victim had six bullet holes in his head, all less then a quarter of an inch apart. The other six holes were spread all over. Two of them were on the white part of the paper.

"Looks like you need to practice more." Kate said to Castle. He sighed and stuck his bottom lip out. She almost felt bad for him. "This really wasn't a fair contest."

"What do you mean? You won."

"I know. But I'm a cop. In fact I'm in training to be a detective. She noticed him looking at her quizzically. "I've had a lot of firearms training. So I had an unfair advantage."

"I knew that before I challenged you."

"How?"

"I saw you put your badge in your jacket pocket. I knew you were some type of law enforcement." He replied simply.

"Oh."

"So, where are we going to eat? My treat."

"I'll think about it while we walk outside." Kate said.

"Okay."

The two gathered their things and Castle stopped to turn his borrowed weapon back in. They walked in silence until the reached the sidewalk. He put up an arm to signal a cab, and one stopped less than thirty seconds later.

"What did you decide?" Castle asked Kate as he opened the back door of the vehicle for her to get in.

She didn't move and so he gave her a questioning look.

"Let's order in." His eyes flew open wide at her statement.

"Your place or mine?" He asked after quickly regaining his composure.

"Your place will do." She answered as she gestured for him to get in first.

"Ladies first." He said, shaking his head.

"I like to sit on the passenger side. Please. Don't worry, I won't think you aren't a gentleman if you get in first."

"Well, if you insist." He said hesitantly, but then crawled in and slid over.

As Castle leaned up to the driver to give him the address, he heard the car door close. He sat back and looked at Kate. Or, rather, looked where Kate should have been. Her seat was empty. He glanced up and saw her standing right outside the cab door, to close for him to open it. He rolled down the window.

"What are you doing? We have to both be in the car to go to the same place. And you said I was crazy." He said with a smile.

"We aren't going to the same place."

"What?" He turned to get out on the other side of the car. The door wouldn't open. The driver looked at him in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, that door ain't worked in three years. Sorry bub. Are you ready to go? Time is money and the meter is running."

"Keep it running." Castle growled at him. Then he scooted back to the passenger side and looked back up at Kate. "What do you mean we aren't going to the same place? Step back so I can get out."

"I'm not moving." She said as she crossed her arms. "And we aren't going to the same place because we aren't eating together."

"But we had a deal."

"And that was that the winner got to pick where we eat. So I picked ordering in, at home. Separately."

"You don't want to have dinner with a famous writer?"

"No." She lied. "Don't take it personally. You're cute and all, but I don't have time for this kind of thing in my life right now."

"You don't have time to eat dinner?"

Kate sighed. It was just dinner. She could take an hour for that, couldn't she? No. She had too much going on. Her father still needed help, especially at night. He'd only been sober for three weeks. And she had her job and training and she wanted to look over her mother's case file later.

"Not with you. Sorry. Thank you though. For the few minutes of fun. I needed that." She smiled weakly.

"At least let me take you home?" He said with a hopeful look on his face.

"No need. I have my own ride."

"Well can I walk you to your car?"

"I'm a cop, remember? I can take care of myself." She put her right hand through the open window. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Castle."

His mind was racing trying to think of something to say that might get her to change her mind. But as he looked in her eyes, he saw something that told him to let her go.

"The pleasure was all mine." He said as he took her hand in his and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her fingers.

She smiled at him then turned and walked away. She rounded the corner and disappeared from his sight.

Castle sat back in the seat and huffed out a sigh.

"Okay, we can go. Thank you for waiting."

The driver's only response was to nod and pull slowly into traffic. They got about twenty feet before they had to stop at a red light. Castle became lost in his thoughts until a low rumbling brought him back. He looked towards the direction of the sound and his eyes grew wide for the third time since Kate had walked into his life.

The noise he'd heard was coming from the motorcycle that was idling in the turn lane next to his cab at the intersection. The sight that had widened his gaze was the person on the motorcycle. It was Kate, and she couldn't stop herself from looking at him, lifting her visor, and grinning mischievously. His mouth fell open slightly. Before he could fully react, her light turned from red to green and she put her visor back down and roared away. Castle let his gaping mouth close into a small smile as he chuckled to himself. Had he known she'd leave him in the dust like that, he'd never have let her win the shooting contest.


End file.
